Home services marketplace Urban Company has reported that its partners’ (gig workers) earnings have increased by 11 per cent quarter-on-quarter compared to Q2 FY22.
The partners are said to have earned an average of ₹297 per hour (up from ₹287 per hour in Q2 FY22), net of commissions, fees, product costs and travel costs. The top 20 per cent of Urban Company partners earned an average of ₹38,263 per month. Partners completing more than 30 orders in a month earned ₹30,455 per month.
Abhiraj Bhal, Founder & CEO, Urban Company said, “At our request, Praxis Global Alliance has also undertaken a benchmarking study, highlighting that on average, the monthly earnings of UC partners is about 50 per cent higher than their offline counterparts, and their hourly earnings is almost 4x higher.”
Further, the hourly earnings of women partners on the platform stood at ₹312 per hour, about 5 per cent more than the platform average. In the beauty vertical in India (salon and spa services), Urban Company’s women partners earned an average of ₹312 per hour, net of commissions, fee and all associated product and travel costs.
Partners who did more than 30 jobs per month earned an average of INR 30,681 per month. The top 20 per cent of service partners earned ₹37,357 per month net of all commissions, fee and associated costs. In Q3 FY22, monthly earnings on the platform for women partners rose by 7 per cent quarter-on-quarter over Q2 FY22.
In Oct 2021, Urban Company launched a 12-point programme with the aim of improving partner earnings and happiness. The programme has played a key part in increasing partner earnings by 11 per cent in Q3 FY22, compared to Q2 FY22.
In December 2021, Urban Company partners in the beauty category protested outside the company’s Delhi NCR office against the introduction of a subscription fee-based work guarantee programme called MG (minimum guarantee) plan and categorisation of workers as Flexi, Smart, and Plus.
Following this, Urban Company has filed a court petition against the service partners protesting outside its office and has called the ongoing protests “illegal.” Also, in October 2021, women partners went on a strike to demand better wages from the gig economy company. However, the company had denied the workers’ allegations and claimed that their earnings were fair.